Like many of you, I watched and listened to the Keynote that kicked off Apple’s World Wide Development Conference on June 5.

Frankly, I was blown away by the introduction of the Apple Vision Pro device. It undoubtedly has some great attributes as a consumer product (gaming, photos, movies, and sports viewing). But in the long run, it also has the potential power to disrupt the business and legal community in perhaps profound ways.

I know; I have heard all the naysayers. People won’t want it. It’s too immersive; it won’t work. It’s just an expensive gadget to supplement what other Apple products— like desktop computers, laptops, and iPads—already to some extent do. And the price ($3599) is just too damn high for a toy to watch movies on.

Continue Reading Vision Pro May Change The Way We Work. Lawyers Too

It’s well known that there are fewer and fewer civil jury trials. Which means less opportunity for younger lawyers to gain trial experience. Given the importance of jury trials to our system, Pennsylvania has decided to do something about it.

I recently listened to a Legal Speak Podcast in which Aleeza Furman interviewed Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Christine Donohue. Justice Donohue talked about a new program she recently helped institute called Project Litigate. The program will create more opportunities for junior lawyers to get trial and courtroom experience and hone their skills. It stems from the sad fact that there are fewer and fewer trials.

I have written before about the dangers of the reduced number of trials. Justice Donohue cited some alarming statistics in Pennsylvania. In 1997 in Pennsylvania some 2116 civil cases were tried to a jury verdict. In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, only 706 cases were tried by juries. I suspect that post-pandemic, there will be even less. Pennsylvania is not unique in this regard. Says Donohue, “Younger attorneys need the opportunity to stand up on their feet and present their cause to the judge and jury.”

Continue Reading Pennsylvania Tackles The Dearth of Jury Trials

“It’s a game changer when the game has changed.”

Richard Tromans.

There has been a lot of speculation lately about the significant impact large language models (LLM) will have on the future of law practice. The theory goes that these models will tremendously reduce the time lawyers spend on many tasks. This reduction, in turn, will force lawyers and law firms to rethink the financial business models upon which the firms have primarily been built. Law firms will be forced to change what they do, especially when clients demand it. And many pundits think this sea change will happen quickly.

Richard Tromans, a thought leader in the industry, writer of the blog artificiallawyer and the force behind the well-known and ground breaking Legal Innovators conferences, reccenlyt weighed in on these theories. 

In a recent podcast interview and an excellent subsequent article, he analyzes change in the legal industry and what has to happen for real change to occur. Tromans concludes that change in legal will not come easily. Or quickly. (Tromans is hosting the U.S. version of Legal Innovators conference in San Francisco on June 7-8, at which the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and LLMs on the legal industry will no doubt be a topic of substantial discussion.)

Continue Reading Generative AI and Legal: Its Not a Game Changer Until the Game Has Changed

Today, Thomson Reuters joined the race to announce its entry into the Large Language Model (LLM) marketplace and what it generally plans to develop in the future. The Company also shared its vision for the future through generative artificial intelligence. Finally, the Company announced a partnership and new plugin with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft’s AI offering. Thomson Reuters states, “This integration will bolster efforts for redefined professional work starting with legal research, drafting, and client collaboration.”

The Thomson Reuters announcement comes on the heels of LexisNexis’ recent announcement of its plans in the space. Other legal vendors like Casetext, LiquidText, and others have also jumped in recently.

Continue Reading Big Legal Tech Embraces LLMs and Generative AI: Three Big Take Aways

Last week, I posted on the culture at Casepoint and about its legal hold product. Coincidentally, Casepoint today announced a significant new tool that reinforces my view that it is one of the most client focused legal tech vendor out there

The new Casepoint product is called ChatViewer. According to Casepoint, ChatViewer is product upgrade that significantly eases the review process for chat messages, including those from cell phone conversation apps and enterprise collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. Using ChatViewer, legal professionals can view, search, sort, and manage chat data more easily than ever — allowing them to reduce review time and discovery-related costs.

Continue Reading Casepoint Announces New Chat Review Feature

NOTE: Last week, I posted on the culture at Casepoint and about its legal hold product. After posting that article, I discovered there were a couple of inaccuracies that needed correcting. The inaccuracies didn’t change my fundamental conclusions about the culture at Casepoint—it’s still alive and well, just like always. I have corrected the inaccuracies in the post below.

Casepoint today announced yet another new product called ChatViewer which I think further reinforces my conclusions. According to Casepoint, ChatViewer, is product upgrade that significantly eases the review process for chat messages, including those from cell phone conversation apps and enterprise collection tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. Using ChatViewer, legal professionals can view, search, sort, and manage chat data more easily than ever — allowing them to reduce review time and discovery-related costs.

Mobile data poses lots of headaches and challenges for eDiscovery and legal professionals and is exploding in volume and complexity. Once again, Casepoint saw a pain point of its clients and came up with a tool to make their work better. I will offer more info on ChatViewer in the near future. But for now Kudos once again to Casepoint.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Matt Hamilton, Senior Director of Sales Engineering, and Amit Dungarani, VP Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives at Casepoint. Casepoint is an e-discovery cloud based provider that claims to offer data-based intelligence and full-spectrum eDiscovery. It includes cloud collection, data processing, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence tools. The platform enables review and customizable productions.

Continue Reading Casepoint Culture Seems Alive and Well
Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash

Tomorrow (May 4) is World Password Day. World Password Day occurs on the first Thursday of May. It was created by Intel several years ago to raise awareness about the importance of stronger passwords and promote better password habits. Passwords are critical gatekeepers to our (and our clients) digital and business records and identities.

Continue Reading Lawyers and Cybersecurity: Security By Obscurity Is Not Security

If a recent Thomson Reuters Report is any indication, lawyers and law firms plan to approach generative AI like they do most technology. Slowly and with skepticism. The Report, entitled, ChatGPT and Generative AI Within Law Firms, came out on April 17, 2023.

Thomson surveyed lawyers in mid-size (30-179 lawyers) to large law firms (more than 180 lawyers). The lawyers were based in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. 

There were some 443 respondents: 62% from mid-size firms and 38% from large law firms. The majority of those answering the survey were from the U.S.

Continue Reading Thomson Reuters Report Reveals Standard Lawyer AI Skepticism
Photo by Stone Hood on Unsplash

Every year about this time, I participate as a faculty member in a training workshop. The workshop designed to teach lawyers how to better use technology in the courtroom, in mediation, or in any setting where they seek to persuade others. We show lawyers of various levels of experience how to use tech to enhance what they are trying to communicate. We limit attendance at the workshop to about 25 people. It’s a 2 ½ day session of intensive training on technology tools. This is followed by the opportunity for each person to give a presentation to the group using the tools about which they have learned.

Continue Reading Technology and Persuasion: It’s All About The Story

Widespread use of generative AI by lawyers and legal professionals will occur when AI tools can be applied to specialized and often private data bases.

There has been a lot of hype about ChatGPT of late, but according to various reports including one by Bob Ambrogi, the legal community’s reaction has been somewhat ho-hum. There are some reasons for that. 

Use of ChatGBT By Legal Professionals

ChatGBT uses a public database–the internet–to derive its answers. At the risk of oversimplification, ChatGPT works by predicting what word will follow another phrase or word. Hence, using all publicly available information to make this prediction could result in some limited or specialized content being missed or misinterpreted. But this specialized content is often needed to answer legally related inquiries. 

Continue Reading Generative AI In Legal Needs Specialized Applications